Home Is Where The Heart Is
by thunder2010
Summary: It's been a long time since Gunther ever trusted anyone. After losing his family, he feels like he really does not belong anywhere. He's become a wanderer. But when he arrives at a new castle and meets the spirited Jane, all his walls come crashing down.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The corset was so constricting and uncomfortable. Jane didn't know why women continued to wear them when she knew they all found them annoying. But she would sit through this dance without a single complaint because her knight training was to start tomorrow morning. She smiled at the reflection of the stranger in the mirror who had on makeup and a sparkling gown. She smiled because tomorrow, her dreams would become reality.

After she had been dressed properly her mother went over again how to greet the men that would be arriving today.

"Yes, mother." Jane said for the fifth time, barely controlling herself from rolling her eyes.

"And remember," her mother said. "Remember no snacking in the kitchen. You will stay in the ballroom the whole night."

Jane stifled a laugh and nodded. As if her mother could stop her. She would be too busy gossiping and searching out good suitors for Jane. Jane did not care much, she assumed that she could chase away any foolish suitor her mother found, she'd done it once already.

Her mother left after giving Jane one last pleading look and she hurried to the kitchen. Jane doubted she would eat tonight for fear of ripping the expensive gown. She was going down because she was sure her friend could use a little help. As she suspected, Pepper and her sister were busy running around the kitchen, tossing ingredients to each other and checking the stoves every few minutes.

"Jane!" Pepper said, with a smile. "You look beautiful!"

Jane blushed, feeling out of place comparing her clothes to her friends'. King Caradoc was not particularly mean to his servants but Jane was sure Pepper would never be able to afford the gown Jane was wearing. But Jane was never one to discriminate between people. "How is it going Pepper?" Jane asked.

"Oh, it's going exceptionally well! The appetizers taste wonderful, if I do say so myself. And the full course is on it's way to getting there, I think it still needs more salt but-"

"You know what I'm talking about." Jane said with a raised eyebrow, and giving a small look to Rake, the new gardener. A few weeks ago, Pepper's younger brother, who had been the previous gardener, had passed away from the flu. Pepper had been distraught for a while, refusing to talk to the new gardener, or anyone for that matter.

Pepper saw where Jane was looking and sighed. "I started being nice to him, if that's what you mean." she said. "But I keep expecting Troy to come bouncing in the kitchen with new herbs sometimes."

Hearing the normally active girl sound so sad broke Jane's heart. She enveloped her in a hug, unable to imagine what Pepper must be going through.

Pepper gasped. "Jane, your dress will get ruined! I'm covered with oil and dust." Pepper chastised. "Your mother will be most displeased."

"I could care less about it." Jane said. "All I want is for my dear friend to be okay."

Pepper relaxed, but still pushed Jane away. After making sure her dress was perfectly spotless, Pepper smiled and promised to talk to her after dinner.

Jane nodded, heading out to find her mother right upstairs. "Come, Jane. They should be here soon."

Jane realized this was the first time a whole Kingdom was visiting and found herself excited. She knew nothing but the four walls of this castle and the familiar faces of Pepper, Smithy, Jester and her family. She wanted nothing more than to be more than a Knight, to make a difference in the world, and to explore it. This opportunity provided her a chance to know what the outside world was like. She supposed the other girls her age from the visiting castle knew no more than her, so she was just going to have to talk to a knight, or a knight in training.

* * *

Gunther, shoulder to shoulder with the other knights, bowed in front of King Rairo as he stepped down from his carriage. Immediately all became quiet as his King stepped to the other King. "King Rairo."

"Caradoc. It's been a long time."

Caradoc smiled, welcoming the other king, and the party began.

Gunther met with the knights in training from this new kingdom and was given a tour of the castle. It was not nearly as big as King Rairo's castle but he was told King Caradoc had more land elsewhere. And it was not that small anyway, it was a quaint little castle by the mountains that seemed to be running smoothly.

Soon it was time for the dance and 13 year-old Gunther was sitting quietly with some knights. They were having a pleasant enough conversation but it did not interest him much. It was mostly about the food and some jokes about this Kingdom. He was getting quite bored when he noticed her.

It was her ridiculous laugh that drew him to her. She was a pale girl with orange hair that looked golden in some light. She was laughing - and snorting - at something the Jester had said. He suppressed a laugh as a lady - presumably her mother - scolded her and led her back to sit with her. The girl scowled at her mother's back and gave a wave to the Jester.

Gunther wondered what the girl was doing talking to the jester. She was definitely higher class than the common joker. He remembered a girl in his home kingdom who had tried to talk to him, but his father had made sure she never saw Gunther again. "Peasants only stay with peasants their whole life, boy. Do not dare try to talk to them again."

He had abided by his father's words, but felt that it was not the right thing to do. He was sure if given the choice, no one would choose to be a peasant. So why did they treat them any different? Gunther had tried to voice his thoughts to the other knights, but they never seemed to understand. Maybe this girl had ideas like him.

After a few minutes of watching her sit alone, he got up. "A dance, my lady?" he asked, holding his hand out.

Jane looked up, surprised. She did not realize anyone had even walked up to her until he had said something. Taking his hand and falling in step with the music, Jane realized she remembered this boy; he was one of the King's knights. She assumed he was only in training because he seemed young.

As he took her hands and guided her into a twirl, Gunther acknowledged how beautiful this girl was. Her fiery hair had been pulled back into an elegant braid and seemed to glow. Her gown was beautifully embroidered and was a color that matched her eyes; green. Her eyes had a sort of fire that he had never noticed in any other girl.

"So what's your name sir knight?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Gunther," he said with a slight smile. "And yours?"

"Jane," she said, twirling away to someone else. With a small frown, Gunther noticed it was the Jester. It was rather unfortunate that he had asked her to join him for the dance where everyone exchanged partners. But the thought fled his mind as a girl with raven black hair twirled to him.

Later, Jane's curiosity got the better of her and she found herself dancing with Gunther again. She asked him questions about life outside the kingdom and marveled at how much freedom a male had. While she was stuck learning proper manner and how to sew, knights were out having adventures seeing the world.

"Once, I went to this Kingdom that had roses of every color." he said remembering a rose the same shade of Jane's hair.

"That must have been a lovely sight," Jane said. "Say, have you ever done anything dangerous?"

Gunther smirked at her. "Why, have you become a damsel in distress my lady?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

He noticed she had a mischievous gleam in her eyes. It was funny how he had visited at least three other kingdoms but he had never met a girl as spirited as Jane. Most of them were quiet and spoke only when he asked them something. None had ever been so straightforward as Jane; it was like a breath of fresh air.

"Well," he said. "I once saved the princess of the Castle of Fallow from falling off a horse." He said, hoping to impress her, but Jane only snorted in response. "I saved her by running on foot mind you," he said amused at her reaction.

"She did not even know how to ride a horse?" Jane asked, wondering what princesses learned, if anything at all.

Gunther gave her a funny look. "She was a young princess who was just learning." he said. "I think she was 11 years old."

"I'm 11 and I can ride a horse perfectly." Jane said, her tone challenging. Gunther was honestly surprised.

"You?" he asked, surprisingly without laughing. He looked at her up and down, assessing her body build and Jane felt a little foolish in the elaborate dress.

"Obviously not in these clothes though, sir knight." Jane snorted.

"Why don't you do normal lady-in-waiting things like have a tea party?" he asked her.

Jane sighed. "My mother always encouraged me to but... There's just something amazing about being outside of the same four walls and actually doing something." She gazed wistfully at a window. "There's a whole world out there with many people and different adventures and that sounds much more of a life than one spent with tea parties!"

Before she knew it, she was expressing to Gunther everything she thought about castle life and how unfair it was to be a lady. He did not laugh at her like Sir Ivon and the other knights did, but he didn't seem like he understood what she meant either. However, it was nice that he listened to her anyway.

As they took a seat to rest for a while, Gunther asked her many more questions and became more and more intrigued about her. She was unlike any girl he'd ever met and she seemed interested in what he told her. She especially loved hearing about other lands and the life of a knight.

It seemed like he had made a friend.

* * *

5 Years Later

Jane grunted as she hit the practice dummy with the sword. She had been deuling with Fiel the other day and in a moment of careless thinking, he had landed a hard blow to her arm that still left a bruise today.

"Have you seen Dragon?" A voice to the left of the field asked as Jane stopped for a break. "I think he might have taken my cow puppet." Jester said, coming into view.

Jane laughed. "Why would you even show him?"

"I didn't! He saw it the other day when I was putting on a play for Princess Lavinia." Jester said with a sigh. "Well have you heard about the traveler that came in today?" he asked.

Jane shrugged. "I heard he was just coming to seek shelter for a couple of days."

"I heard from Rake that he's a knight." Jester said with a dramatic wiggle of his eyebrows.

"A knight?" Jane asked with a frown. "Neither Sir Theodore nor Sir Ivon mentioned that. Well, where is he?"

They hurried over to the King's throne room where Jester had heard the King was having a conference with the stranger. "Where do you think he's from?" Jester asked, leaning against the door, straining to hear the conversation. "Why do you think he's here? What if he's a spy?"

Jane laughed, wondering what was wrong with Jester. "I don't think so, Jester. We are in relative peace with plenty of Kingdoms, I doubt they would send a spy. I wonder if he's really a knight."

Suddenly footsteps sounded and Jester stepped away from the door. Sir Theodore came through with the newcomer beside him. He looked at Jester and her for a second and Jane had a feeling she'd seen those eyes before.

"Jane," Sir Theodore said, and Jane looked away from the stranger.

"Sir?" she asked.

"The King would like to speak to you," he said, and Jane nodded stepping into the throne room.

When she had walked far enough, she immediately went on one knee and lowered her gaze. "Your majesties," she said.

"You may rise, Jane." King Caradoc said, and Jane got up to see both the King and Queen. "I assume by now you have heard about the new comer in the castle?" Jane nodded. "He has come from many a lands. He is a traveler and has come to our castle to stay a while. While I talked to him I found that he was a knight in training before he was told to leave King Rairo's castle." Jane frowned, rarely did knights get thrown out of a kingdom to which they swore their allegiance. "He is a knight in training like you, and is willing to take an oath of allegiance to me. However, I am not sure about a knight who has already sworn an oath to a different King."

"So he is not to become a Knight here your Majesty?" Jane asked.

"Oh, he is. I would not leave a man stranded with no where to go. Especially a man who is as skilled as him. No, I am putting you in charge of watching him." The King said and Jane's eyebrows shot up.

* * *

**A/N: I've been planning this story for a while and I finally found the courage to write and put it up. I know it may seem a bit basic this first chapter, but just Review and tell me what you think, it will get interesting.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"I have to get to know him, and then decide if he really means allegiance to the Kingdom." Jane said to Dragon the next morning.

Dragon picked his teeth. "I see nothing wrong with that, Jane. It's just another shortlife to get to know. And if he bothers you, you can always send him to me." Dragon said, and Jane smirked, wondering if he knew about Dragon yet.

She had met the knight, Gunther, after her talk with the King and had showed him around the basics of the castle. He was a quiet person, but for some reason, he made Jane nervous and that made her angry. She was a knight now, one newcomer should not be making her feel anything.

"Well, I'd better find him and offer him something to eat I suppose," Jane said, getting up and stretching.

"I'd like to see him too." Dragon said, following Jane. She rolled her eyes but did not oppose, it might be better for Gunther to meet Dragon now rather than later.

She walked up the stairs to where she knew Gunther would be staying. After a short knock on the door, he responded, "Come in."

Jane had never been in a male's room and hesitated before opening the door. But then she shook her head; she was a knight in training. She had been spending time with the other knights for years now, she shouldn't be so nervous.

She opened to door to find a clean room with and a man sitting on the bed. She looked around the room, surprised; her own room was messier than this. "Good morning," she said to him, and he looked up from wiping his shoe. He nodded to her, standing up. When he didn't say anything, Jane sighed. "There's someone I would like you to meet," she said, moving into the room and opening the window.

"Hello there," Dragon said, popping his head in.

For a moment, Gunther looked surprised and that was the most response Jane had gotten out of him so far. But he still did not speak.

"This is my friend, Dragon." Jane said, amused at Gunther's reaction.

"A Dragon?" Gunther finally asked in a quiet voice. He walked closer to the window. "And you keep it here? In the castle? Like a pet? Is that even safe?"

"I am hardly a pet!" Dragon scoffed.

"He lives in those caves over there," Jane said, pointing to the mountains behind Dragon. "And he also happens to be my best friend. Which means he is in the castle grounds and you can be assured he won't hurt you."

Gunther nodded, seeming satisfied with this, but gave Dragon a sidelong glance of suspicion. This castle was a strange place. First there was the first ever female knight, and a Dragon that lived here too. After a smaller tour and some breakfast, he was finally given a chance to do what he was born for; Knight training.

Over the next few days, Jane began spending more time with Gunther and noticed that unless he had a sword in his hand, he was never happy.

* * *

"So I hear you're quite the Knight," he said to her one day as they sat with all the other knights reading. Jane looked up, surprised he was finally opening up a little. "The other knights say they hardly ever beat you in a duel these days."

"It comes from many a hard days of training." Jane smiled. "Being a knight is everything to me." she said. "It's been my dream since I was a little girl."

"You didn't dream of normal things like jewelry and tea parties?" he asked with a raised eyebrows and Jane scoffed.

"When I was a child maybe. But as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a knight. I have always wanted to make a difference in the world." she said and Gunther remembered he'd heard those words before. "What made you want to be a knight?" she asked, catching Gunther off guard.

He frowned; being a knight was just something he knew he would always become. There had never been any thought or question. "It's what my father told me to do, and after a while I just started to enjoy it."

"You never wanted to be anything else?" Jane asked, surprised. Even the other knights had vaguely thought about it, so what was wrong with Gunther?

He shrugged. "I know I'm going to be a knight, so what use is thought about anything else?" he asked.

"Well, everyone has a dream. And don't you just get curious about wanting to be something else?" Jane asked. Gunther sighed, giving her an annoyed look. "Aha!" she said suddenly. "Oh don't be such a cold fly, Gunther. You know I'm right."

"And why are you so sure of that?"

"Because," she said with a smug smile, seemingly immune to his glare. "Jester always makes that face when he knows I'm right. So come on, tell me. If Gunther Breech could not be a knight, what would he be?"

"I'd be a king." he said quietly.

Jane nodded, and said in a rather calm voice, "That would be interesting. To have all that power, to rule a kingdom." However her mind was spinning. What if he really did not mean allegiance to the castle and tried to take it over for his dream? Or maybe she was overreacting.  
"I wouldn't do it for that," he said turning to look at her. "I'd do it because of family loyalty. It's the same reason I enjoy being a knight. Everyone is looking out for another and they would never betray or leave each other. I don't have much of that in my family."

Jane looked into his grey eyes, seeing the hurt that he was hiding. "What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly feeling the need to comfort him like she did to Pepper.

He looked away, as if he had just realized he was talking to her. "Nothing," he said quickly.

Jane sighed, as he got up to go practice outside. So much for him opening up. But it was progress. She decided to watch him from a window inside the room. He was good with the sword; especially at shifting it from hand to hand, which Jane still had difficulty with. He was almost as fast as her, and definitely more muscular.

Jane had a sudden thought of wondering how his muscles looked under all that armour. Immediately, she looked away from him and started blushing. Foolish Jane! she could not be thinking such things about her fellow knight! Still, to make sure she got rid of those thoughts for good, Jane started to read the book with more interest than before.

* * *

Later, before dinner Sir Theodore called everyone for a practice sparring. Usually, because there were 11 knights one would always be paired to spar with Sir Theodore or Sir Ivon. But now with Gunther, there were 12 and Jane found herself face to face with him. She was his sparring partner. She wondered for a moment if this pairing was done on purpose because the King had trusted her to watch Gunther.

"I'm not going to go easy on you because you are a girl, Jane." he said in a low tone as they began to circle each other.

"I would not expect any less," she said and they both smiled.

Gunther came at her first, trying to land a blow on her left, but Jane was fast. She took her height to her advantage and crouched low, avoiding his blows and running circles around him. Before she knew it, she was the one on the offensive.

Jane had thought she was a pretty decent knight, but sparring with Gunther kept her on her toes. She was used to the other knights' tactics but Gunther was new to her, and so was his battle strategy. And just as he'd promised, he had not gone easy on her. He was trying his best, and Jane could see that from the glisten of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

Gunther never had expected that Jane would have been this hard to beat. She was just as skilled as he was, and they were evenly matching one another's attacks. He was just about to land a blow on her when, quick as a fox, she moved to the other side and he lost his footing. He felt her wooden blade make contact with his side, and down he went.

"Finally," Jane sighed, lowering her sword. She had noticed that everyone else had left, leaving just her and Gunther in the courtyard. They must have left for supper. "You have champion skills Gunther," she said, lending a hand to him to help him up. "I almost thought you weren't going to fall on your face for a second."  
Gunther smirked, knowing he would never regain his pride in front of Jane again. "And you as well Jane, for a girl anyway."

Jane tried not to be offended, but she frowned at him. She was used to people making jokes about her being a female, but for some unknown reason, from Gunther it stung more.

"Jane!" A voice called and Gunther looked to see Jester walking toward them, a smile on his face. "I wondered if you were ever going to eat!" he said, eyes only on Jane.

She laughed. "You shouldn't have waited for me, Jester. Especially on sparring nights,"

Gunther looked between the two of them; seeing how much affection they had for each other made something clench in his chest. He couldn't remember the last time someone looked at him like that. Swallowing back his silly feelings, he picked up both swords.

"You go on then Jane," he said to her. "I'll put our swords back." He saw her hesitate and look between him and Jester. But he turned around before she could offer to join him.

"Alright, but hurry back Gunther." Jane said. "Pepper's meals always taste better when they're hot!"

Gunther kept walking and their chatter quieted behind them, and tried to ignore how lonely he felt in comparison to Jane's laughs.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

They sat in silence reading and Jane was getting quite tired of it. Gunther had been at the castle for a week now and she was sorry to say, he was a boring person.

"Excuse me?" he asked, and Jane realized she had spoken aloud.

_Well, no matter, it was the truth._ She gave an exaggerated sigh. "You don't talk much."

He gave her a look that said she was the last person he wanted to talk to. "I don't have much to say."

"Well you could talk about where you're from or something." Even though he was annoyed, Jane egged him on. She did not know why but she liked to hear his voice. It was not as high pitched as Rake's or deep as Smithy's. It was low but when he talked to her, it captured her attention. It seemed to lure her closer to him.

Gunther stilled, he came here to forget his past not reminisce on it. But maybe a couple words would entertain Jane for a while. "There isn't much to say. I was raised in King Rairo's Kingdom, I left, and now I'm here. Can we get back to reading?" He neglected to mention he would probably leave this Kingdom in a month or so. It made him uncomfortable to stay in one place too long and he knew the King did not trust him 100% anyway.

"So," she said, smirking when Gunther put his book down in defeat. "How is the reading?" she said, deciding in a change of topic.

"We are reading the same book, Jane. What do you think?"

"I'm glad you asked." She said with a grin. "This is one of my favorite books. Map-making is a very useful -"

"You're lying." he said suddenly. Jane frowned at him, about to speak in her defense when he interrupted her again. "I noticed that when you lie to Dragon you clench your fist for a second. And you were complaining to Sir Theodore the other day about your favorite history book; that it was missing a page or something."

Jane smiled, impressed. "How observant of you." she said. "Maybe you're not so dull after all. But anyway, map-making is very useful." Gunther didn't respond. "Are you particularly good at it?" she asked. She had been asking him these sort of questions lately, trying to pry into his past. All she knew about him was that he was a traveler and a knight but she wasn't sure she, or the whole kingdom, could trust him until she was completely sure about Gunther Breech.

He shrugged. "I've only ever done it once."

"And what did you map?" she asked, wondering if he would ever tell a story about where he used to live.

He gave her a funny look, wondering why she was so curious. "Um, for training we were blindfolded, put on a horse and taken around the kingdom. When we arrived back at the castle, we had to draw the route we took, to the best of our memory."

"Wow," Jane said, wondering why they had never done anything like that.

"It comes in handy if you're kidnapped and need to find your way back." he said, returning his attention back to the book.

"I never thought of it that way!" Jane said. "I want to try it."

Gunther gave her an annoyed look. "You've only read two chapters of the book. You won't be able to draw up a map with that little knowledge."  
Jane snorted, closing the book. "I read this book when I was little, in fact, I've read every book for the knights in training at least once." Gunther raised his eyebrow at her, wondering how she'd ever had the time. "Oh, don't look so surprised."

"Well, there are a hundred books in here, hard to believe you've read them ALL." Gunther said.

"When I was young, when I was only dreaming about being a knight, I would sneak up here after lunch when mother was busy and read a book. She never found out."

"Why?" Gunther asked, to him reading a book never compared to physical knight training.

"It was the only thing I could do." she sighed, remembering the days when she would sit by the window watching the knights train and remembering how much she wished she could join them. "Being a girl, you know." she laughed bitterly and Gunther marveled at the emotion in it. "Or maybe you don't know. But anyway," And with a blink, she stood up, a smile back on her face. "So about that mapping exercise."

Half an hour later, Jane was standing next to her horse at the front end of the castle with Gunther holding the reins in one hand and a blindfold in his other. "Since I'm sure you know the castle like the back of your hand, I drew up a route that might be a bit unfamiliar for you. I'm going to lead the horse in the route with you blindfolded. Try to be aware of what direction we are going and the distance."

Jane nodded quickly, bubbling with excitement. "Let's do this," She turned around so Gunther could tie the piece of cloth. She could feel his breath on the top of her head and his fingers grazing her forehead and ears as he tied it around. She didn't know why, but it left her skin tingling.

"You have some thick hair." he said, struggling to tie the piece of cloth.

Jane grunted, not trusting her voice to speak. Eventually when Gunther tied it, he realized he had to help her on the horse too.

"Er- give me your leg, Jane." he said.

"What?"

"I need to help you up on the horse, I doubt you can see the foot stalls through the cloth."

"Gunther, I'm fine. I can climb a horse." she said and turned to her left to mount it. But without her sight it was difficult, nonetheless she was not going to admit that to Gunther. She tried to hoist herself up by the neck of the horse, but ended up giving its mane a painful tug. In response, the horse reared back, trying to get away from Jane.

"Honestly, Jane." Gunther sighed and picked Jane up by her sides before she could upset the horse anymore. Jane yelped as he put her on the horse. Immediately Gunther let go but Jane wondered if he got that same thrill in his blood like her. He cleared his throat and proceeded to lead the horse around the castle.

Jane thought the mapping was easy enough and she had to commend Gunther as well. He had made the route tricky with many turns and he was trying to distract her with conversation as well.

"So where's the big lizard today?" he mocked.

"Oh, probably with the cows." she said with a wave of her hand. Having conversation with Gunther was rare but she couldn't be distracted and respond back.

"You know what I like about the forest, Jane?" he asked quietly. He didn't even know why he had spoken up, but he just wanted to say something. Just to know if Jane was really interested in him or if she was just a chatterbox.

"Hm?"

"I like how it's quiet, yet buzzing with life." he said. "At one spot you can sit and listen to the wind and just watch the clouds go by, and at other places you can hear all the animals moving around without a care in the world."

Jane found herself smiling at his words, but what she said came out in a mocking tone. "Aww, are you going soft on me now Gunther? I didn't know you were a poet."

Gunther rolled his eyes but then remembered that Jane couldn't see him. "As if I would ever be a sniveling poet."

"Hey!" Jane exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about not getting distracted. "My friend Jester is a poet, no need to be so insulting."

Gunther rolled his eyes again. "Personally I think a man who busies himself with poetry and making others laugh is not a man."

"Not all men have to do the same thing, Gunther." Jane said beginning to get annoyed.

"Men," Gunther said, ignoring her. "Should be strong and skillful. They should be leaders of something, not weak, lovesick, fools."

"It takes skill to be a poet!" she said. "And I happen to love Jester's poetry."

Gunther wondered if Jane did not understand the last thing he said. "You only like it because he writes about you."

Jane frowned, taking off the blindfold forgetting why she had it on in the first place. "What do you mean he only writes about me?" she asked, dreading what Gunther was implying. "He writes about plenty of things! You hear him when he does plays for the Princess, they aren't about me."

"Jane," Gunther said seriously, wondering how she could have overlooked the Jester's affection for her. "The boy is with you all the time, he is always trying to make you laugh and smile. And -"

"Oh come on, Gunther," she said, chewing her lip nervously. Jester did not like her like that. "That's what all friends do." But Gunther did not look convinced. "A boy and a girl can be just friends. Take Rake and Pepper for example." But then stopped when Gunther smirked at her. "Wait, that's a bad example. Take me and you for-"

"I'm a very good observer, Jane." Gunther interrupted, patting the horse and giving the reins to Jane. "I've been to many villages and seen many people and trust me when I tell you that your Jester is smitten for you."

Jane closed her eyes, as the horse took off to a trot, leaving a confused Gunther behind. Why didn't she believe him? And why wasn't she blushing with joy like every female did? She was acting like he said an illness had befallen the Jester.

Almost as if she did not reciprocate the feelings everyone in the entire castle knew Jester had for her. Almost as if she did not realize that Jester had feelings for her. And something about Jane acting so worried made Gunther calm. Oh this certainly was an interesting castle.

* * *

After her failed attempt at their mapping activity, Jane rushed to her bed once back at the castle. She felt as if she had a permanent blush on her face and Gunther's words kept swimming in her head.

But he couldn't be right! She heard many of Jester's poems and none of them were about her. Well some of them were about a girl, but those were just stories; they weren't about her.

She was sure of it. Gunther had probably just riled her up to see if she could actually do the mapping exercise. Which she had failed.

With a groan, Jane flipped onto her back. She still remembered all those years ago when a young knight in training had come from with a visiting castle. If she closed her eyes she could still remember his hands on her sides and how he sat patiently listening to her. And she could still remember how she had pressed a note in his hand asking him to meet her at the courtyard later.

And she remembered how the next day he didn't look twice at her.

Jane sighed stretching her sore back. "That's enough Dragon ruins for today, hm?" she asked, looking at the sun that would begin to set in an hour. "I should probably get back to the castle. I'd promised Her Majesty I'd have a tea party with Princess Lavinia before dinner."

"Alright then, Jane."

They flew back in silence, Jane still remembering Gunther's words and Dragon wondering if they had gotten the ruins right.

As she approached the princess's chambers, she heard voices. Picking up her pace, Jane reached the room and peered in to see Gunther holding a teacup, looking very out of place in the Princess's pink room.

"Oh, Jane!" Lavinia said seeing her. "You were a bit late for the party so I invited Gunther to be your replacement. You don't mind right? We can have our party next week!"

Jane chuckled. "As long as Gunther is alright with it. What if he wants another tea party next week?" Gunther's glare told her exactly what he thought of having another tea party.

"I think I might be busy next week," he said through clenched teeth.

"Yay!" Lavinia said with a smile. "See you next week Jane!"

Jane shook her head, walking away. Lavinia was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen. "Hello there, Jane." A familiar voice said, and Jane saw Jester in front of her.

"Hi," she said in a breathless voice.

"So, how was your day?" he asked, walking with her out toward the garden. "I haven't seen you at all."

"I - I um, just busy with stuff." she mumbled. Walking with Jester was always comforting and friendly. Now with Gunther's low voice repeating in her head about Jester liking Jane, it felt very awkward.

"Something tells me your day wasn't as exciting as mine." he said with a laugh. Jane tried to laugh, but it came out more as a grimace. Fortunately, Jester didn't seem to notice. "I spent my day with Rake in the garden, apparently the Prince did something so I was helping him replant some bushes. And guess what?" he asked and stopped walking. Jane also stopped and Jester pulled out from behind his back a rose. Jane felt like the blood in her stop moving for a second. "For you," he said.

Jane looked from the rose to Jester's smile and back at the rose. There was nothing to deny now. Gunther was right. Jester liked her.

Jester was always doing small things like this for Jane and she had never added it up. She had never noticed the hope in Jester's eyes. The affection he had for her. How had she not noticed?

"Thank you," she said taking the rose with shaky hands. She gave Jester a weak smile and they began walking again in silence. If Jester could sense Jane's moodiness he didn't give any indication of it.

And that was what Jane loved about their friendship. Jester had always understood when she needed time to herself without saying anything. But Jane wished for a second that he was not so caring. Maybe then she could deny that he loved her.

He loved her.

Jane closed her eyes in anguish. How she just be friends with Jester, spending time with him, when all the while know that his feelings would grow for her when hers would not? How could she lead him on when she knew that her heart belonged to someone else?

She would have to tell him, obviously. She could not let Jester have feelings for her when she knew she would never be able to reciprocate them.

"Jane? Why have you stopped walking?" he asked in a gentle voice.

Jane sighed and opened her eyes. She should tell him. "Jester I-" But one look into his hopeful eyes and Jane lost her nerve. She couldn't just break his heart like that. Even if she did not have any affection for Jester that he had for her, she could never tell him and hurt him like that. "I'm not feeling so well." she said, and rushed off.

She could hear Jester calling her name behind her and chasing after her, but she was faster. She ran from Jester all the way to the other side of the castle. When she reached her room, she immediately collapsed on the bed, dropping the rose on the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Two mornings later

"Shall we do that again, Jane?" Dragon asked with a laugh.

"That's enough for now," Jane said. "We're almost at the castle; wouldn't want to give mother a heart attack." After a patrol, they had gone to see the cows Dragon was so fond of bothering, but they weren't there, for a storm was coming. So Dragon did the next best thing: flying upside down. While Jane did enjoy the exhilarating, weightless feeling it gave her, the memory of falling off Dragon two months ago was fresh in her mind.

After leaving Jane at the castle, he soon hurried to his own cave to take shelter from the oncoming storm.

Jane made her way to the kitchen, planning to spend the storm with Pepper. She really wanted to talk to her about her Jester situation.

"Jane! There you are," Smithy said as she walked down the steps. Jane jumped at the sound. She thought it might have been Jester calling her name, whom she was at the moment avoiding. "Sir Ivon has been looking for you, he needs your help in the gardens covering the plants with Rake."

"Of course, thank you." Jane said, and with a sigh turned to go back up the stairs. There was always work to do.

As soon as she stepped foot in the gardens, the downpour started.

"Jane! Here, help me with the Rosemaries." Rake said, appearing suddenly in front of her and handing her a sheet of fabric.

Jane went quickly to work, ignoring the chill of the rain on her. Once they'd covered all the Rosemaries, Rake ran back inside to get more sheets for the herb patch. Jane wished it were her going inside the dry castle.

"Here you go," said a voice in her ear and warm hands draped a shirt around her shoulders.

Jane turned around, surprised to find Gunther, shirtless. She stuttered, unable to get real words out.

"It will keep you warm in the rain," he said.

Jane gaped at him. "I- I'm fine! Put it back on!" Jane practically yelled, blushing. Why was Gunther wearing only one shirt anyway? He usually had on three layers.

"You're a lady, Jane. You could catch a cold," he said, going to fix a sheet that had come off. They had just started becoming friendly with each other, but it was strictly a friendship built on mutual interests in sparring, and insulting each other. He didn't know where these caring, kind actions were coming from.

"But at least I have clothes on! You'll get sick faster than I will." Jane followed him, having a hard time keeping her eyes away from his naked torso. Thunder boomed overhead as Rake came back and handed Jane a sheet.

"You take care of the tomato garden, I'm going to do the eggplant with Sir Ivon." Rake said, leaving to find Sir Ivon.

Jane sighed, glaring at Gunther.

"I don't get sick Jane, come on." he said, leading the way to the tomato patch. "You don't need to worry about me."

Jane sighed, muttering about foolish men and put the sheet on the tomato patch. Gunther didn't understand what Jane was making such a fuss about. He was a man; he could handle a small rain shower. He noticed Jane was trying very hard not to look below his face and smirked. He knew girls were attracted to him, but he never thought Jane would be. Whenever they were together she was very bold and talkative, she was never nervous. Maybe he should have some fun with this.

"Alright Gunther," Jane yelled over the strong wind. "We should go back now." He nodded and followed her as she sprinted to a nearby door that led to the ballroom of the castle. Jane opened the door and they found that no one else was in the room.

Jane made a small sound of frustration as Gunther's naked torso collided into her back. She ushered him inside but left the door open for a little light. There was no lit candle so they both sat near the door, not in the mood to go wandering around the dark castle.

"Here," Jane said, handing Gunther back his shirt.

He gave her a look and rolled his eyes. "There's nothing I can do with a wet shirt, Jane."

She heard humor in his voice and wanted to turn and smile at him. But she kept her eyes glued on the dark room in front of her. If she looked at Gunther, she was afraid she would do something dumb. "Well it is yours, so take it." But instead he moved closer to her.

"I'm a little cold," he said. She stifled a gasp and clenched her jaw. The storm would be over soon; it had to. And then she could move far away from Gunther. Gunther smirked, finding it entertaining to see Jane squirm so much. "Not feeling bold today, are you Jane?" Gunther whispered to her. Jane shivered when she felt his warm breath on her neck.

"What are you doing, Gunther?" she asked in a breathless voice. She tried to blame it on the rain leaving her cold, but she knew it was because Gunther was sitting so close to her. And it made her even more nervous that she was enjoying his presence.

"Nothing," he whispered back, his heart beating fast. If he stayed absolutely still, he could feel Jane's arm resting against his side and her wet hair tickling his shoulder. He didn't know why but he wanted to move closer to Jane and have her whisper in his ear.

Suddenly, Jane moved away, ending the contact between them. She hated to admit that her body relished the electricity she felt when Gunther's body was next to hers. But she couldn't just sit there and enjoy it. She had to stop thinking about the effect Gunther was having on her.

"So," she said, looking outside past Gunther. "Turns out you were right."

Gunther knew what she was going to say, but asked anyway. "About what?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Jester h-having feelings for me." She didn't know why she was talking to Gunther about this, but she had a feeling he wouldn't laugh at her.

Gunther sighed, and sat in front of Jane, forcing her to look at him. "And why does that make you so upset?" Jane looked at the ceiling, wondering how she could explain this to him. "Jane," he said and she looked at him again. "He might be a boy who sits all day making poems instead of being a real man but," he paused, expecting Jane to hit him, instead she gave no reaction. "But, he definitely is a good person for you." Gunther ran a hand through his hair, wondering where this advice about the heart was coming from. "Jane women go around looking for this so-called 'love'; they spend their entire lives looking for the blasted thing! Yet, here you are with love staring you in the face and you will not accept it. Why?"

Gunther watched as Jane rubbed her arm and looked everywhere around the room before him. He watched as she licked her lips and moved a little closer to him and then finally spoke.

"Do you believe in love?" she asked him suddenly.

He wasn't expecting a question in response and let the surprise show clearly on his face. He didn't know how, but Jane was always good at catching him off guard. And that was something no one had been able to do in a long time.

"What?" he asked, and then shook his head. "Love is a woman's idea Jane. It isn't something a man understands."

For some reason, Jane looked sad but spoke anyway. "Would you believe me if I said I fell in love with someone, long ago? When I was very young." She stared at Gunther with honest eyes, waiting for him to speak, but he didn't. "Would you believe me if I said I still love that person even though he didn't love me?"

Gunther felt like he had been punched in the stomach. "Yes," he said, before he could stop himself. He didn't know why, but the sadness in Jane's voice made his heart hurt and memories return. Memories he had locked away a long time ago.

He stood up suddenly, feeling the need to look away from Jane's eyes. If he kept looking at her, he might spill the emotions he had worked so hard to keep in. Thankfully, the door on the other side of the room opened revealing Rake, the gardener.

He smiled as soon as his eyes landed on Jane. "Found her, Pepper!" he hollered, leaning out of the doorway.

Jane stood up as well, and gave Gunther a sidelong glance. "I've been here the whole time, Rake." she said.

"Oh, that's good." he said as soon as Pepper arrived.

"Oh, Jane!" she exclaimed, running into the room. "Jester and I have been looking everywhere for you." Gunther saw Jane's smile falter.

"Jester's with you?" she asked, and as if on cue, he appeared at the door. Gunther didn't know if it was just him seeing things, but Jane suddenly looked very nervous.

"There you are, Jane!" he said with the ever present smile on his face. "I wanted to show you some new puppets I made,"

For some reason, Gunther felt bad for Jane. She obviously had not told the sap that heart belonged to someone else. "I don't think she wants to do that right now," he said, stepping close to her. Everyone looked at him as if they hadn't noticed he was in the room before. "She - um, I think she's catching a cold from the storm."

He could feel Jane giving him a look like she thought what he was saying was ridiculous. "Oh, Jane! I didn't notice you were so soaked. You poor thing!" Pepper said suddenly and started pulling a reluctant Jane out of the room. "I'll have you dried and make you fresh soup. Jester you can wait until tomorrow to show Jane the puppets, right?" she asked and walked out of the room with Jane without waiting for a response.

Rake dashed off, mumbling something about the kitchen leaving Jester glaring at Gunther.

"Where's your tunic?" he asked him suspiciously.

Gunther shrugged, suddenly feeling the absence of the cloth. "I gave it to Jane to keep her warm."

"You've been spending a lot of time with Jane haven't you?"

Gunther rolled his eyes. "We are both knights in training, so naturally we spend most of the day together, along with all the other knights. Look," he said with his hands up in mock surrender. "I don't care what kind of lover's spat you two are having, but I do not want to be involved in it at all."

Jester frowned. "What do you mean, lover's spat? Did Jane say something to you?"

"No," Gunther said, wondering if Jane and this joker had talked about her feelings. "But I can tell that you have feelings for her."

Jester sighed. "I don't know. I'm never good at being serious. It's always been this easy, childish, playful friendship between Jane and I. What if talking about my feelings ruins it?"

Gunther had a strong feeling it might, but he could tell Jane also missed her best friend. "Well things between you too are falling apart if you hadn't noticed. I saw that she's been avoiding you. Maybe if you just openly talk to her, it will straighten things out."

Jester sighed. "I don't know..."

"How about this: I will stall Jane in the armory tomorrow before lunch. If you decide you want to talk to her, come there and talk to her. If not, well, don't come."

When Jester left Gunther sighed and sat down, wondering when he had become the cupid between these two.

* * *

**A/N: So i really like the way this story is going and I hope you guys do too. In the next chapter, we'll finally hopefully get over this JanexJester stuff. They're not my OTP in this fandom.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jane was having a fairly good day if she took some time to think about it. Pepper had made her favorite meal for breakfast, Jane actually had a chance to clean her room, the sun was hiding behind the clouds so the temperature was perfect, and Gunther was helping her use both hands to handle the sword. She was getting good at the technique, however not as good as Gunther. But that was all a matter of time.

"Alright Jane, now come at me and try to swing your sword to your other arm behind my back once I stab you." Gunther called to her and Jane nodded.

They circled each other for a minute gauging each others weaknesses. Though Jane was getting used to Gunther's fighting style, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Like now when he faked to his left but then came at her right after a quick spin. They both knew it was too late for Jane to change her direction; she was moving too fast in the left. With the wooden sword he hit her right leg, causing Jane to become off balance.

"Woah," Jane said, knowing Gunther was going to stop before she hurt herself. Using his hesitation to her advantage, Jane came face to face with him and hooked her arms behind his back.

It was moments like these, when Jane could feel his breath on her face and saw his gaze drift to her lips for a even a second, that she wished that time would stop. She would watch those steely eyes that were always looking at her with a challenge shift, to reveal something else; and an almost hungry look would cross his face. Something that she was not used to seeing. But then he grinned and time started moving again so she passed her sword to her left hand and managed to hit him in the back of his neck with her wooden sword.

Smiling she dropped the sword to the ground behind him and held up her hand. "And I declare the victor to be Jane!" she yelled gleefully.

Gunther tried to remember a time when he smiled and laughed so much but couldn't think of any. "Champion, Jane. You've almost got the hang of it," he said, picking up her sword to stop looking at her lips. "One day you might actually be able to use it properly in battle."

Jane's smile fell. "What do you mean? I did use it properly; don't be a sore loser."

"On the contrary," Gunther said, handing back her sword. "When I stabbed you, I could have stabbed you anywhere. But I chose the leg to give you an advantage to learn your new skill, which would never happen in a real battle. However, if I had chosen your arm with the sword, you would've been done for." Jane crossed her arms, looking unconvinced. "Here, let's play it out again." he said moving closer to Jane to recreate the fight.

But when he saw her cheeks flush pink at their immediate contact, his gaze went back to her lips. He wanted to point out how she blushed and laugh at Jane about it, but she would probably counter him with how he would always look at her lips. And that meant they would have to talk about it.

Well, of course there was nothing wrong between attraction between a male and a female but Jane was his fellow knight. How could he focus on his knight duties if he became involved with her? Which he was not going to be. Ever. But it wouldn't hurt to just give his mind a little ease. He had wondered a few times now what Jane's lips tasted like.

"Gunther are you alright? You've been standing stock still for a minute now, I thought I was supposed to get hit in my arm by your sword?" Jane's voice broke through his thoughts.

Gunther blinked and stepped back. "I'm suddenly feeling a little tired from the heat," he said looking away.

Jane gave him an odd look. "The sun has been behind clouds all day. What heat?"

But he continued as if he had not heard her. "I'm going to freshen up early for lunch. Could you put my sword away for me? We'll practice more tomorrow." he asked handing it to her. Jane shrugged.

"Okay then, see you later I guess."

He turned away from her and briskly began walking the opposite way of the tools shed. He was aware his room was not this way, but he didn't want to cross paths with Jane whilst he was still thinking what her lips would taste like. He was mumbling to himself about 'This is the reason girls aren't allowed to be knights.' when a figure jumped out at him from the shadows.

Gunther quickly jumped back, but straightened up when he realized it was only the Jester.

"So?" he said nervously, wringing his hands. "Is sparring over? Did Jane go to the shed alone?"

Gunther sighed. Training with Jane had made him momentarily forget that he was playing cupid between the Jester and her. "Assuming no one is there already. Yes, she is on her way."

Jester nodded, and began walking in the direction Gunther had come from. It wasn't that he was nervous about talking to Jane, he was just worried he'd scare her off. He was used to their easy friendship that he hadn't noticed how boring his life had become without Jane to talk to. Even if she couldn't return the feelings he had for her, maybe they could still be friends.

And if not... He'd get to that problem if it came up.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door and walked in. Jane turned around holding up a sword with a mischievous grin that was quickly turning into a grimace when she saw him.

"Hello, Jester." she said quietly. "What are you doing here?"

He wrung his hands for a second before finding the courage to speak. "We need to talk." Jane raised an eyebrow. "About erm- us."

Jane's cheeks colored pink and she sighed.

"Jane I-" Jester didn't know what to say all of a sudden; Gunther had not exactly helped him rehearse what to say, that slimy git. He cleared his throat. "Things have gotten a bit awkward between us and I want to know why. I mean you've been avoiding me and you ran away from me last week. What's going on?"

Jane took a deep breath. Jester was right; awkward was the perfect word for this situation. She was never one to talk about these sort of feelings with people. Really, the only one she'd ever told was Gunther. He was the only one who knew about that Knight in her past. "Um, see Gunther put this silly little idea in my head." Jane said, cursing Gunther for ever opening his mouth. "He," Jane gave a shakily little laugh. "He said that you, you know." Jane was looking at the floor when she was speaking, because these very words were foolish coming from her mouth. And why was she so nervous anyway? She was a knight for heavens' sakes. "He said that you like me, possibly even love me." Jane said this and laughed when she noticed Jester widen his eyes in surprise. "I know right? What a silly idea!"

Jester suddenly cleared his throat and Jane stopped laughing. "I - I do love you, Jane."

Jane felt like the wind had been taken out of her. Here Jester was confessing his deepest feelings and she was laughing at the mere possibility. She felt like running away again.

"I've loved you for a while now," he said sincerely. "I love everything about you: your laugh, all the freckles on your face, the way you train harder than anyone else, your beautiful hair, your-"

Jane held up a hand for him to stop. "Please Jester. Don't," With every word he said, Jane felt worse for not returning his feelings.

"I just - I've never had the courage to actually tell you. And for good reason; Gunther told you for me and look at us. You, looking like you want to push me down and run out of here, and I'm too nervous to hold a simple conversation with you." Jane guiltily looked at the floor. Jester smiled and stepped closer to her. "Jane the real reason I never told you was because I knew you wouldn't- that you do not have the same feelings for me."

"You knew? And," Jane asked choking a bit on the word, "And you still love me?" Jester nodded with a sad smile. "Jester, I'm sorry." Jane said feeling tears prick her eyes; Jester had been such a good friend to her and she was causing him a heartache.

"No, Jane don't say that. It's okay; there's nothing to be sorry about. I'm fine." She looked up at his smiling face. "I've loved you this whole time knowing you don't love me but that never stopped me."

"I feel horrible." Jane said, finding the courage to look at him. "See the thing is," Jane sighed, wondering how she could explain this to him. She felt that she owed it to him; that he deserved to know why she didn't share his affections. "A long time ago, I liked someone. And - well, long story short: he did not and left me." Jane chewed her lip. "I just don't think I could ever love someone because of him. And I'm so sorry that you're in love with me when I can't find it in me to even try. I just don't want to be hurt again." She scoffed, expecting Jester to be angry at her. "I'm so selfish."

"Oh, Jane." Jester sighed and put an arm around her shoulders. "And here I was thinking it was my fault you don't have feelings for me. I thought I wasn't hot enough for you." Jane rolled her eyes and managed a smile at his joke. "But Jane you aren't selfish. You're just looking out for yourself and I can't say that I blame you."

He removed his arm from her and sighed. There was a silence as they tried to collect their thoughts.

"So what now?" Jane asked. "Think you'll ever get over me?" she said it in a playful tone but her eyes were serious.

Jester shrugged. "I don't know." He looked a little heartbroken and Jane felt like she was being hit by a ton of bricks from every direction. She was a horrible person. "But what I do know," Jester said. "Is that I have been missing my best friend," He gave Jane a brilliant smile. "Her name is Jane, she has fiery red hair and is never scared. Have you seen her around?"

Jane laughed and pushed Jester playfully. "I've missed my best friend too."

Jester smiled. "So let's be friends! I promise I won't ever speak of this love stuff again. Ew, love what a silly word anyway." He pretended to shudder in revulsion.

Jane rolled her eyes at Jester's relentless humor. "But I feel bad, you know. I don't want to be friends with you while -"

"Jane, don't worry about me." he said with wave of his hand. "I'll be fine. There are a million girls out there! I could fall in love again,"

Jane's eyes perked up at his optimism. "Really?" She knew from first hand what it was like to be hurt by love. But here Jester was all smiles and jokes even in the face of rejection itself. Maybe she could learn something from him.

"No of course not, how could I ever stop loving you?" Jester asked looking into her eyes seriously, Jane immediately looked down. "Oh, Jane! I'm joking! I'm joking! Come on now, where's my best friend who always laughs at my jokes?"

She glared at him and crossed her arms. "Jester!"

He huffed. "Fine, fine. No more jokes about my love for you."

"So you're okay with us being just friends?" Jane asked, looking at Jester's eyes for a reaction.

"Yes, Jane. We are going to be, and stay, friends."

She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "Thank goodness," They smiled at each other.

"Oh!" Jester said, suddenly. "I promised the princess I'd help her with something. I'll see you later then, Jane." he said with a smile and ran off.

Jane shook her head, glad that was over. She had been missing Jester's friendly nature and his ability to constantly make her laugh. When she walked outside, she couldn't help but notice the sun was shining brightly. With a smile she saw Gunther whispering to Jester who made an animated hand gesture and ran off.

Gunther shook his head at the fool. He was never able to hold a proper conversation with the Jester. Turning around he noticed Jane was approaching him. He leaned back against the wall, trying to get some shade since he was supposed to be feeling 'tired from the heat'.

"Hello there, Gunther." she said.

"Jane," Gunther nodded at her. "So how'd it go in there with lover boy?" Instead of acting nervous as she did before, Jane smiled at him.

"Am I to assume that you are the reason Jester found me in there?" she asked him.

Gunther rolled his eyes. "You think he would go in there on his own accord?"

Jane also leaned against the wall, standing close to him. "Thank you then. I wouldn't have been able to talk to him of my own accord either." He could tell she was smiling at him and it was infectious. He was happy that Jane the lovesick boy were friends again. "So I was thinking of what we were talking about the other day," she said cautiously. "I asked you if you believe in love and you didn't answer me directly." Gunther sighed as she turned to look at him; never one to back down he looked into her eyes, challenging her to continue. But unlike with Jester, she found she was able to freely talk about her feelings with Gunther. "So why do you believe Jester was in love with me? How did you know?"

Gunther bit the inside of his cheek. Only Jane would ask him such a personal question; she never knew when to draw the line. He knew he didn't have to answer her, but for some reason the words came out. "Because," he said. "I could see the look in his eyes when he looked at you, and I could tell by the smile he had reserved for you. I knew it was love, because I used to look like that too."

There. He had said it. He had said the one thing that he had promised to forget; that he had promised to leave in his past.

And it was funny because Jane didn't even show him sympathy or ask him what happened. She sighed with that faraway look in her eyes that made him want to continue. That told him, maybe if he opened up to her, she would bring a wall down for him too.

"I once loved a girl." he said, closing his eyes and imagining Penelope. "She was beautiful, with long dark hair and a bright smile. You and her were similar in work ethic and being happy all the time. She was never as loud as you though." Jane smiled in sympathy, knowing how hard this was for him to reminisce on. "I told my father about her one day; biggest mistake of my life." Gunther laughed humorlessly, opening his eyes and looking at the sky. "He didn't approve of her; called her a peasant girl and many other insults that I won't mention. Her family was in the pottery business, matter of fact Penelope was particularly good at it; the King even bought some of her work. But that wasn't good enough for my father. Her family wasn't rich enough for him to want to associate with them. He told me that my feelings would not last for her and that I should forget about her." From Gunther's soft smile, Jane knew what his next word would be. "But I didn't. With my father frowning at me and reminding me of her flaws, I just learned to love her more.

"I didn't realize it was love until it was too late." Gunther frowned and Jane could tell that was the end of the happy part of the story. "My father, he told me to stop seeing her or he would disown me. Naturally I didn't know what to do; he was the one paying for my knight training. So I thought maybe I could fake that I was leaving her and then be with her behind my father's back.

"I wrote her a letter explaining to her my plan but I forgot that she didn't have much basic education. She knew how to speak well, how to recognize the king's symbols and how to do pottery. But she didn't know how to read very much." Gunther looked at Jane and she could see the guilt in his eyes. For a moment she wanted to tell Gunther that he could stop if he wanted to. He didn't have to tell her the whole story if it caused him this pain, but a part of her knew that he needed to tell the story. "The next day I came to her with my father and I -" He closed his eyes in shame and Jane rubbed his arm to console him. "I yelled at her. Jane I was so horrible to her." Gunther's hands formed in a fist as if he was going through physical pain. It made Jane's heart break. "My father of course, was happy with me. I came to her house the next day, but her parents forbade me from coming in. I tried to explain to them that I really wanted her back and that I made a mistake, but they would not listen. And then my father found me and asked what I was doing there. I asked him the same question and he told me to leave. I knew I should have stayed, should have told my father to disown me right then and there.

But I didn't." Gunther's voice sounded like guilt buried under layers of ice. "The next day I came again, and her parents told me they had married her off. At first I was actually angry. I thought maybe she was talking to another guy while being with me. I thought 'good riddance'. And then I realized what my father had been doing there. He had brought with him someone to marry Penelope since I had ruined her reputation by yelling at her. He brought her one of his friends, probably 20 or 30 years older than her. I never saw Penelope again."

"Did you ask your father about it?" Jane asked quietly.

Gunther scoffed. "He said yes and he gloated about it. He knew he had tricked me and he shoved it in my face." Jane looked away from Gunther's anguished eyes. In addition to losing the girl he loved, he had been played by his father. Jane's heart went out to him. Her own father never approved of her becoming a knight, but he had eventually accepted it. He hadn't ruined her life. What kind of father did Gunther have? "And the worst part," Gunther said with a sigh. "Is I never got to apologize to Penelope. I never got a chance to tell her why I had yelled at her. I never even told her I loved her." Gunther looked up at the sky, laughing dryly. "The one person I ever cared about, I never got to tell them how much I cared."

Jane didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him that it would be okay, because it probably wouldn't be. They couldn't fix the past. And what would be the point of even trying to learn anything about Penelope's whereabouts? If she ever saw Gunther again she would probably slap him, he had ruined her life afterall. Even if it was unintentional.

And there was nothing to say to Gunther that would heal the wound. Jane knew that. Hers' wasn't even healed yet. So she opted for standing beside him, close but not touching. Near enough for him to understand that she was here for him.

"I do believe in love Jane," he said finally after a long silence. Jane turned to look him in the eyes. The sadness and pain was gone now; it was replaced by a sort of calm understanding of the world. It made him look older than his years. "I just don't believe that love lasts."

Jane sighed, unable to look away from Gunther. "Do you think that we'll ever get over our past?" she asked.

"I think Jane, it doesn't matter that we lost our loves. It just matters that we know we made mistakes. Mistakes that we should probably never trust anyone again," he smiled sadly and Jane wondered if Jester was right. Could someone really love again? Was it possible to open up your heart when it was broke, and battered and still bleeding?

She licked her lips before responding. "I think Gunther, that it is good that we at least loved once in our life." She smiled sadly at him back. "I would rather live with this pain, than not having known love at all. It was beautiful while it lasted,"

Gunther watched the emotion in her eyes and frowned. "Not me, Jane. I would rather have never fallen in love at all."

Jane didn't know if it was the crestfallen look in his eyes or the need to comfort Gunther, but she found herself holding his shoulder, and ever so slowly pressing her lips to his cheek. When she pulled away, she knew she was fiercly blushing, but managed to stand straight and look Gunther in the eye. "Maybe one day Gunther, we can learn to love again."

* * *

A/N: Okay, I just really loved this chapter so much. Sorry to idk be prideful or whatever, but I thought this chapter was beautiful. Sorry about all the heartche and only a teasing kiss scene, there'll be more soon!** Reviews make me want to update more :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gunther had a hard time sleeping later that week. He didn't know if it was because of the tickle in his throat or because he kept thinking about the color of Jane's eyes. He had tried to pass them off as a nice green color that vaguely resembled grass. But he was just lying to himself.

Her eyes sometimes resembled the color of an emerald. They were always shining with emotion and matched her lively personality. When they were sparring, sometimes Gunther would forget what move he was doing and just stare at Jane's eyes for a second. And then she'd pin him down, winning the duel.

That in itself was also lovely. Even if it was a little painful for his rump to hit the ground, it was okay because sometimes Jane would trip and land on top of him. His body would always tense under hers but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the contact of their bodies. And then Jane would be laughing in his ear, distracting him from her body.

Most of the time he would push her away but just yesterday when Jane had fallen atop him, he had not. He relished the feel of Jane's body against his and didn't shy away when she smiled directly at him. He had stared into her face, mere inches from his; watched as her emerald eyes darkened gazing at his lips and then stared back at his eyes. He had wondered for a fleeting moment, what Jane would do if he touched her lips with his. So, before Jane had a chance to get off of him, he had pretended to lick his lips and by coincidence he had licked her bottom lip as well.

He heard her quick gasp and saw her quick blush when she got up. He had gotten up as well, brushing his bottom off, and tried to make eye-contact with her to no avail. But when he saw her again at dinner, she was all laughter and sparkling eyes. She chatted with him as usual, pretending what had happened between them had been an accident.

But Gunther knew it wasn't. He had licked her lip on purpose; not that he would admit that to her. And she would never admit to that one second of hesitation before she had gotten up. That one brief moment where she wanted to repeat the action to Gunther.

Sighing, Gunther got up. He would never get to sleep if he kept thinking about Jane. He was feeling a bit warm so he thought a dip in the lake would help. Grabbing a large cloth to dry himself off with, Gunther headed down to the lake.

Jane sighed, rubbing her eyes as the words from the book seemed to move in front of her. It was late and she had been having trouble sleeping because it was a little chilly outside. So she had lit a couple of candles and grabbed a book to help her sleep, but it wasn't working.

Well she would not just sit here reading this same page for another hour, her eyes were killing her. With a sigh, Jane blew out the candles and put the book under her cot. She stared up at the darkness for a while but then heard a splash. Immediately, she sat up thinking what the noise could be. It had rained a couple nights ago and she supposed someone could be out, splashing some puddles; but who?

Her sleep was gone now, so Jane had no choice but to follow her curiosity. Pulling a shawl around her shoulders, Jane opened her door to look outside, but saw no movement in the dark. "Hello?" she called out. "Is someone there?" Only an owl hooted in response and Jane sighed. There was no splashing sound anymore but she was still curious who would be out here at this time of night.

Jane walked down the stairs and began to check the perimeter of her room. She didn't even see any footsteps. Frowning, Jane headed toward the lake behind the castle. It was possible that the splashing could've come from here but if anyone was swimming in the lake they were a fool.

So she wasn't surprised when she saw someone swimming. And she could just tell it was Gunther. Of course it would be him, he had only been here for less than a month, he wouldn't know about the lake.

"Gunther?" she called out.

The figure swimming stopped and turned to look at her. "Jane?" he called out, squinting. "What are you doing here?" He stood straight and from the moonlight shining on him, Jane could tell he was naked.

She quickly looked away. "I - um I heard a noise and came to see what it was!" she called out, feeling foolish not looking at Gunther.

"Well, it's just me. I came here to swim," he said in an amused tone. He wondered if he should get out of the lake to talk to her, but she would probably run away when she noticed his lack of clothing. The thought made him smirk.

"You shouldn't be out here!" she said, still unable to turn her gaze toward him. "There are wolves around the woods and-"

"Oh, I'm not too worried, Jane." he said dismissively. "I threw a piece of raw meat at the other side of the forest. They'll go toward that, and by the time they're done, I'll be gone." He began to swim again and Jane nodded, impressed at his thinking. When she turned away to head back, Gunther called out her name. "Jane wouldn't you fancy a swim with me?" he asked, teasingly.

She sniffed at his casual tone "No way!" she said. "You're not wearing anything!"

"So what?" he asked with a chuckle; bothering Jane was always fun. She tried to explain herself but only ended up blubbering. "Why Jane, don't tell me you're afraid of swimming?"

Jane turned around quickly and frowned at him. And then quickly regretted it when she peeked at the water under his waist. The light of the moon gave a perfect view of what was beneath the water. Jane immediately looked back up to Gunther's challenging eyes. "I'm not afraid of swimming!" she said.

"Then prove it," he said nodding at the water. When Jane took a couple of steps toward the water, he grinned. She gulped, dropping her shawl near Gunther's clothes. But she couldn't just wade into the water like this! "Knew you were too afraid," Gunther taunted her.

Jane glared at him, wondering what he wanted from her. "I am not afraid, I just don't want to catch a cold."

"Oh, don't be such a prude." he said, laughing at her.

Still glaring at Gunther, she picked up her shawl and turned away, going back to the castle. Gunther could think whatever he wanted of her, but she was not an improper lady to go swimming with him while he was wearing nothing.

With a sigh Jane threw herself on her bed and tried to fall asleep, but couldn't get the image of naked Gunther out of her mind.

* * *

The next morning, she woke bright and early, as she was going to accompany The King with a couple of other nights to a kingdom nearby. She had a rather large breakfast and went in search of Sir Theodore to tell him she was ready. "There you are, Jane!" he said when she reached his office. "The King says he wishes to speak with you. He's in the throne room."

Jane nodded and hurried off to the throne room where she found the King conversing with Sir Ivon. When they noticed her, King Caradoc ushered Ivon away and turned to Jane who bowed in front of him.

"Jane there is something I need to talk to you about personally. It's about the trip I am taking today." He said. "I have rescheduled to leave in the evening and you will not be accompanying me and the other knights."

Jane stopped herself from saying something rude. "As you wish, your majesty. But, with respect, may I ask why?"

The King sighed. "Jane do you remember the task I assigned you about Gunther Breech, your fellow knight in training?" Jane nodded. "And how is that task going? What have you been able to find out about him?"

Jane bit her lip. The task had been at the back of her mind, but she hadn't really been working on it. "Gunther does not speak about his past much," she said carefully. "He's only so far talked to me about some training he did at his previous Kingdom and about someone that he lost very close to him."

The King raised his eyebrow, but Jane didn't continue about Penelope. It wasn't her place to say anything specific about Gunther's first love; even if it was to the king. "I see," King Caradoc said after a lengthy pause. "While you have not heard much, Jane, I have heard some rumors."

"Rumors about what your highness?"

King Caradoc sighed and examined his nails for a moment before speaking. "About how Gunther reacted after he was dismissed from his previous Kingdom. When he left, he did not come to me immediately." he said and Jane wondered what Gunther could have possibly done to make The King so uneasy. "He went to a couple of other Kingdoms before. And then he left." Jane frowned. "He was sort of a wanderer, a nomad if you will. He didn't have any real loyalty to the previous Kingdoms he went to. And I'm afraid he doesn't have much loyalty to this kingdom either." Jane bit her lip, wondering if the King was right. Would Gunther leave? "So I'd rather you stay at the Kingdom, continuing to work on the task I have placed upon you. In two months from now, I'd like your opinion of him: How loyal he is to my kingdom, and if you trust him. That is all Jane."

Jane nodded, looking down. She left the room and went to the kitchens to find someone to rant to. She had been looking forward to this trip outside of the castle. Albeit, it was not that far, but she had really wanted to see what the world looked like from outside the castle walls.

However when she went to the kitchens, she found that everyone was busy. Even Jester was busy putting on a play for The Queen, Prince and Princess. He always got to go on every trip with the King and Queen, as they would need entertainment.

But she would always be left behind.

Not to mention this was all Gunther's fault. Where was the pile of dung anyway? While everyone was bustling around with a task, he was nowhere to be found. With a sigh, Jane headed to his living quarters. If everyone else was busy, at least she could rant to the person whose fault it was that she needed someone to rant to. If that made any sense. She marched up the stairs to his room quite noisily and opened the door with a huff, planning to immediately start talking.

But she didn't expect to see Gunther sleeping. She stepped closer to him, planning to violently shake him awake when she noticed he had a frown on his face and his body was glistening with sweat. Frowning, Jane put her hand to his forehead and sighed at how hot it was. Now she felt bad for blaming him.

Grunting, Jane sat on the floor beside his bed and shook him. He opened an eye and groaned. "Jane? Is that you? What time is it? Why is it so hot?"

"Gunther, I think you're sick. I'm going to get my mother but I need you to sit up."

He groaned again, but didn't move. "I never get sick, just let me sleep for a while." And with that, he rolled over on his side, away from Jane.

She rolled her eyes and went to go find her mother, who agreed with Jane that he was sick. Gunther sighed at this, mumbling at how he never got sick. "Jane, why don't you go see if Pepper has any leftover soup from last night, or any herbs that can help Gunther? I have to go help Her Majesty pack."

Jane's mother left in a rush and Gunther raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "She's much nicer than you," he mumbled with a smile on his face.

Jane huffed, wondering how men always managed to make jokes at the worst times. "Oh can it. I'll back in a few minutes with some herbs. Try not to die." She hurried to the kitchen to find Rake making something with strawberries. After finding some leftover herbal soup, she went back to Gunther's room.

"Here we are," she said shaking Gunther. He mumbled something and then rolled on his side. Jane smirked and pinched him.

He yelped and immediately sat up, glaring at her. However, the glare held much less power seeing as Gunther was sick in bed. "I'm not hungry." He said with a sigh.

Jane resisted the urge to pour the soup over his head. "Gunther, I'm not your mother nor am I my mother, so I am not going to force you to eat. But if you don't eat this soup, you're not going to get better."

Gunther pouted. "I'm so tired, will you feed me?"

This time Jane tipped the bowl so a little fell on his thigh. He screamed, trying to rub his now slightly burnt skin. "I am not going to say this again. I am not your mother so I am not going to baby you. I am leaving this soup here and when I come back, it better be all gone." Jane said in her sternest voice.

Gunther mumbled something but when Jane left he eventually starting eating. He supposed he was acting a bit childish, but in his defense he was sick! He had a right to not be in the right state of mind. Not that Jane would ever accept that.

Gunther sighed. Jane was being a right prick for some reason. And he hadn't even done anything rude to her yet. Maybe this was the way it always was with girls; they were always so unpredictable. Especially ones with fiery orange hair named Jane.

* * *

Jane came later in the afternoon after the King and Queen had left to check up on Gunther. She smiled when she saw that he had finished the soup but immediately wished she hadn't entered the room when she saw he had on no shirt.

"There you are, Jane!" said a voice from outside the window. Jane turned to see a big, orange eye. "Smithy told me you hadn't gone with the King and the others. Is something wrong? And whose room is this anyway?"

Jane loved Dragon, she really did. But for one moment she wished Dragon was not there chatting away, because unfortunately for her, that meant he had woken Gunther.

"Who's there?" Gunther mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Jane thought he resembled a child when he was this sick and helpless but the muscles on his body proved otherwise.

"Dragon," Jane whispered. "I'm fine, but this is Gunther's room and he is sick. Why don't you go patrol for a while so he can rest in peace?" Dragon pouted, but eventually left after giving Gunther a dirty look.

"Jane, is that you?" Gunther mumbled sitting up.

"Yes you numpy it's me." Jane said sitting on a chair near his bed. She didn't know why, but she felt a little protective over Gunther at the moment. Here he was, sick and alone, and everyone was too busy to take care of him. Well, everyone except Jane apparently. "Here, I brought you some water."

Gunther took the glass of water from her hand and graciously drank. "Oh, that helped so much. Thank you." He sighed in content and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep. Jane nodded, looking around the room. "And sorry for my lack of dress, Jane." he mumbled making Jane smile. "I know how uncomfortable it makes you, but I feel like I'm standing under the sun."

Jane sat down again and began to smooth his sweaty hair out of his face. "It's okay I guess. You have a bad fever so I'll forgive you this once. And it's not like it's a bad view or anything, you look much better with your shirt off." She had whispered the last part to herself but judging from Gunther's smirk she guessed he heard her. Jane blushed and pulled away from his hair. "I'll erm- go get you some more water."

She hastily left the room, scolding herself for not keeping her embarrassing thoughts to herself. When she came back she saw Gunther was frowning and sweating profusely again. Now Jane was not the best caretaker as she had not paid much attention to her lady-in-waiting training, but she vaguely remembered Pepper taking care of her brother when he had been sick. Not that it had helped much, seeing as he had died a month later, but she hoped Gunther was stronger than that. She hoped this was just a small cold from him going out to swim in the dead of night.

Finding a small, clean, cloth Jane dipped it in the glass of cold water and put it on Gunther's head. His frown lessened and he sighed in relief.

Jane continued this and put a couple more pieces of cloth on his neck. "How are you feeling?" she asked half an hour later.

"A little better, thanks." he said and Jane smiled, putting a fresh strip of cloth on his head. "I'm feeling much better now Jane. You don't have to take care of me for the whole day." Even though he said it, he hoped Jane wouldn't leave his side.

Jane was sure if he had been looking at her while saying this, she would have blushed. "I don't mind," she said. Gunther just shrugged in response and tried to focus on sleeping. Jane put a new cloth on his neck and found herself tracing a small pattern on his collarbone.

Gunther thought it was just Jane adjusting the cloth at first, but then realized the movement was from her hand. He supposed he could just be imagining it, as it was a feather light touch, so he kept his eyes closed and willed for his imagination to continue. Which, fortunately it did.

Jane was a little hesitant at first, for fear that she would wake Gunther up but she found that she liked the way his skin felt under her hand. She traced her fingers down his right arm and circled the callouses on his fingers. And then she moved back to his chest. She felt a little silly doing this but when she ran a finger over the area where she knew the human heart to be, and felt it beating fast, she knew Gunther didn't mind.

In fact, Gunther was enjoying every bit of it. He knew by now he wasn't just imagining it and when Jane ran a cautious finger over his belly button, he wished she did this more often. Which meant she would probably stop eventually, so he wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

Jane smiled as traced his abdomen muscles. She didn't know many guys who made their bodies look so good. She supposed they came from all the hard training Gunther did. When she traced a circle around one of his nipples, Gunther placed a hand over hers and hissed her name, suddenly sitting up.

Jane blushed as she caught his gaze, but didn't look away. And she pretended to ignore the invisible pull that was bringing them together. Before she knew it, she was sitting so close to Gunther that she could see the individual flecks of color in his eyes. His eyes always seemed as if they held something mysterious about them, like Gunther was holding back a secret, but when his gaze traveled to her lips she knew she was looking at desire in his eyes.

She hated when Gunther did this, when he just looked at her lips so intently. Like he wanted to memorize them but only did it with his eyes, as if he was afraid Jane wouldn't let him touch her. And if she really thought about it, she was a bit afraid but she knew Gunther saw the same desire in her eyes. The only difference was, he was too busy being a gentleman to do anything about it. Which made Jane even more upset.

So she did the first thing her irrational brain thought of: she moved even closer to Gunther and bit his lip.

She was staring at lips when she had made her move but then her wide eyes looked back up at Gunther's hungry ones. Suddenly Gunther was pulling her closer by the waist and pulled his mouth away from Jane's only to bite at her neck.

Jane flinched from surprise, but when Gunther did it again to the other side of her neck and sucked on it, Jane moaned in happiness. She felt a heat in her stomach that she was sure would consume her if Gunther didn't stop what he was doing. And for a moment he did let go of her, but only to capture her lips with his own. Jane's eyes fluttered close of their own accord and she let her brain stop thinking for a moment.

Gunther hissed against Jane's lips when she started to trace a path down his chest with her ever wandering hands, but didn't tell her to stop. He didn't know what they were doing, but he was too close to Jane to care. All he cared about was the taste of her full lips and quenching the thirst he was feeling.

He didn't know how far they would've gone or what had even started this, but when they heard a sudden knock on his door, he and Jane pulled apart in a flash.

A cook, Pepper, opened the door holding a steaming bowl of soup in her hands. "Jane mentioned you were sick, so I brought this." she said setting it on the chair where Jane had been sitting previously. "And Jane, I have been looking everywhere for you! I made lunch and told Dragon to find you but he said you were here with Gunther."

She looked at Jane up and down with suspicious eyes. Jane turned red, trying to hide the bite mark she was sure Gunther had left on her neck. "I was just in here keeping Gunther company," she said trying not to look at Gunther.

Pepper shrugged. "Well your food is getting cold so come on,"

Jane bit her lip and gave in, peeking at Gunther as she left. His eyes were following her movements, that hungry look still in his eyes that made Jane hot all over. She refrained from seeing him the rest of the day. Thankfully, Pepper sent Smithy to check on Gunther later, which gave Jane more time to her thoughts.

She was trying to read a book but really she was just distracting herself from thinking about Gunther. This task proved to be hard when he came and sat beside her, a book in hand.

Jane gulped, but managed not to blush. "So, are you feeling better?" she asked quietly.

She could see Gunther smirking from her peripheral vision. "I am, especially thanks to you." And with that simple sentence Jane felt hot all over again. Gunther cleared his throat. "Jane, we should really talk about what just happened."

Jane wished for a second that the ground underneath her would open up and swallow her. She was so sure Gunther was going to reprimand her for what she had started and say that they should never do that again because he did not like her like that anyway. But did that mean Jane liked Gunther? With a sigh, Jane mentally shook herself. Talking to herself was doing no good, so she turned to look at Gunther. She wasn't a coward, she could accept a little rejection.

When Gunther finally spoke, he said every word slowly, as to make sure that Jane was hearing him. "As much as I enjoyed that Jane, it probably cannot happen again." he said. Jane blinked, not understanding. First he said that he had enjoyed it, but didn't want it? "It's just that we have to dedicate our whole lives to a Kingdom and being a knight, we shouldn't be sidetracked about other things, it might shift our loyalty."

Even though it made no sense to her, Jane nodded, turning her attention back to her book. "I agree," she said, trying not keep the disappointment out of her voice. "We should keep things between us professional."

Gunther nodded, tight lipped. He had hoped for a bit of an argument from Jane, or some sort of expression, but he supposed this was better. If they both agreed, then they both would stay away from each other.

And stay away from each other they did. At meals, Jane and Gunther would never sit together or at least try to chat with someone to keep themselves distracted. Jane never went back to Gunther's room again and if they found themselves alone somewhere, one of them would make an excuse and leave.

Neither of them were able to forget about the kiss though, even a week later when they were selected to spar together. Though Gunther tried to keep his gaze on Jane's eyes at all times, for a brief second he would look at her lips and be lost in his memories. This made it easy for Jane to beat him, but when she attacked him, she would linger touching his arms or chest any chance she got. But they pretended not to notice and continued to spar without hesitation.

* * *

Jane was having a particularly hard time sleeping one day. Her overactive imagination always led back to that day and she could swear she could feel Gunther's hands on her sides if she tried hard enough. Not that she was trying, of course.

With a frustrated sigh, Jane kicked her sheets off and walked out of her room. She didn't know where her feet were taking her but eventually she found herself at the lake where she had seen Gunther last week. Thankfully, the lake was empty today. Jane thought about going back for a moment, but what would be the point? She wasn't the least bit tired, and there was no one around, so she could be in peace.

After a quick inspection of the perimeter Jane waded into the water with her thin chemise. It wasn't a particularly cold night, but the water and it made her shiver and raised goosebumps all over her body. But Jane paid no mind to the temperature change and began to swim long, lazy strokes through the water.

Gunther woke up disoriented to the sound of a splash. He supposed someone could be in the lake at this time, or maybe it was a predator. He hoped it was the latter as he went out to go investigate. Even though his body was screaming for him to go back to sleep, curiosity was getting to him.

If it had been some sort of animal, there would've been more splashes, as animals in the forest traveled in a pack. But there was none. Just the silent sound of something moving through the water. Gunther knew no one else swam here because he had been doing it the past week, excluding today. And his mind immediately jumped to one other person who would come.

As he got closer to the body of water, his suspicions were confirmed when he caught a flash of red hair. As he watched Jane glide through the water, he became enchanted with her. She was like a mermaid in the water, fair skinned and agile.

He knew he should leave and let her swim in peace. He was the one who said they shouldn't do anything together after that time he kissed her. And he knew if he went in there with Jane that he would break his word. But that didn't stop himself from removing some of his garments from his body and going into the water.

Jane turned around quickly when she heard someone enter the water behind her. And just her luck that it would be the one person she was not supposed to be thinking about. He grinned at her, looking her up and down, approving of the cloth sticking to her body like a second skin. Jane felt like her whole body was suddenly blushing from that one look.

She wanted to continue swimming and pretend that Gunther being there had no effect on her, but she couldn't find it in her to move. She was transfixed by Gunther's eyes and waited patiently as he made his way to her.

"What a surprise seeing you here," he said, when he had finally reached Jane. They were floating a good foot apart from each other but they could both feel that spark between them.

"I couldn't sleep," Jane said.

"I was sleeping until I heard you, but now if I went back I don't think I could sleep either."

Gunther's voice was surprisingly loud in the quiet night but Jane welcomed the company.

"I keep thinking about you," she said softly, moving closer to him. There was only a handful of distance left between them and Gunther closed the gap by putting his hands on her waist and pulling her against him. He felt like every tiny part of him was alive when she was touching him.

"I had dream about you once like this," Gunther said breathlessly. "But in my dream you weren't wearing anything." His hands were tracing circles on her back and Jane felt like her legs were turning to jelly. Jane rested her arms on his shoulders to keep herself from dropping into the water below. Gunther smirked, pushing some cloth off of Jane's shoulder and gave it a soft bite. He looked up at her with that wicked gleam in his eye that made Jane shiver.

His face moved closer to hers and somewhere in the back of her mind, Jane registered that she shouldn't be doing this. She should tell Gunther to leave or swim without her. But she did neither as she lifted her lips up to meet his half way.

* * *

A/N So sorry about the delayed update! Hopefully this romantic chapter will make you all happy. But it won't be happy for long, don't worry there's more plot than just these two kissing.

But if you do enjoy the kissing, I was thinking of writing a little smutty one-shot about what these two do with the rest of their night ;) But only if people are willing to read it.

BUT ANYWAY PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS CHAPTER


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Okay so I am sosososososososososososososososo sorry about such a late update! I've just been so overwhelmed with University I haven't had proper time to work on this. Please forgive me. Enjoy this bittersweet chapter and leave me a REVIEW so I know what you guys are thinking.**

**I swear the next chapter will be more humorous.**

* * *

Chapter 7

_So much for professional._ Gunther thought as he woke up the next morning. Last night had seemed like a dream to him and he thought he had been hallucinating from sickness at first. But Jane's kisses proved he wasn't dreaming. But where did this put Jane and him? Before, he was her friend who was trying to help her tell the Jester that she didn't fancy him. But now, he was more than a friend for sure.

He groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up. He didn't have much experience with women but he knew they caught feelings fast. He did not want that with Jane. It was easier when they were just friends. Now it was going to be awkward, especially if she told anyone.

Eventually he got out of bed and headed for breakfast. Jane wasn't there and Gunther felt a bit disappointed at first but then dismissed the thought. It didn't matter if Jane was with him or not. He was fine on his own; he had always been. But there was something lonely about eating without Jane yapping about something or another in his ears.

The King and Queen were due to come back this afternoon which meant Gunther had to stop looking around for Jane and get to work. He repeated this mantra in his head to focus, but it didn't help much.

Jane was also doing the same to help focus on her patrols. When she finished and promised Dragon a back scratch later, she headed over to Gunther's quarters to see if he was up yet. Surprisingly he wasn't in the room. Jane shrugged but then the clutter underneath Gunther's sleeping cot caught her eye.

There was plenty of papers in there and curiosity urged Jane to investigate. She left the door slightly ajar so she could hear someone's footsteps if they approached. Carefully, Jane crouched beside the cot and pulled out some of the papers.

The first looked like a deed to a house, and Jane guessed that was where Gunther had first lived. On the paper was another name beside Gunther's - Magnus Breech - but it was crossed off. Jane frowned, wondering why Gunther had not just asked for a new deed instead of crossing off the previous owners' name.

She looked at another folded paper. It looked completely unmarked from the outside. She opened it and saw girlish handwriting. At first she snorted at the silly, old, love note but when she read the words she felt like her breath had been taken out of her. She rubbed her eyes and reread the words a second time. Nothing changed. The words of her past were still staring back at her.

But if Gunther had this note that meant... And suddenly little pieces seemed to click.

It was the same scar Gunther had on his jawline that the boy from her past had all those years ago. She didn't clearly remember the name he had told her while dancing in the ballroom full of conversation, but she remembered the exact shape his lips made. He could've been saying Gunther. And he still had the same raven colored hair and cunning eyes.

Yet, he couldn't be the same boy from her past. Wouldn't he have remembered her? Or remembered coming to this Kingdom? Or remembered the story Jane had told him? Albeit, Jane had left out some very important details, including this note, but how could Gunther have this note and not know?

Or maybe he did know and was just fooling Jane? Made fun of her because she still remembered him after all this time when he hadn't bothered to come downstairs after a ball and meet her for a few moments?

A cold chill went down Jane's spine and she stuffed the note in her pocket. She would ask Gunther about this to his face. It was one thing for him to forget her, but if he was actually making a fool out of her, he was as good as dead.

She repeated this idea in her head to ignore the waves of sadness that threatened to drown her.

She headed to the kitchens first to see if Gunther was there, because it was lunch time afterall. But unfortunately he was not. And the thought of food didn't calm Jane at all. It made her want to throw a tantrum and lash out at anyone who wanted to talk with her.

Gunther involuntarily found himself smiling as he walked to sparring, wooden sword in hand. His eyes found Jane's mass of firey hair immediately. She looked just as energized to spar as he was. It had been a dull day for him to say the least, after helping Smithy he had been given the "honorable" task of watching after the Young Majesties and playing with them after lunch. Now, he looked forward to an session with Jane.

As usual they were paired together, but as they circled each other, something felt off. Usually Jane would throw a careless insult his way to try to lighten the mood. But it seemed like today she was embracing the tension.

Which was fine with Gunther; that made it easier to concentrate. As they started, Gunther was glad he was concentrating. It seemed as though Jane was intent on beating him to the ground. He put up a good front, but Jane was full of much more energy than him, and pinned him to the ground after half an hour.

"Alright, Jane good job. Gunther, lad, maybe next time." Ivon said and moved on to watch the next group.

Gunther tried to get up, but Jane kept him down by holding the sword against his throat. "I know it's hard for you to keep your hands off of me, but not in public at least." he said teasingly, but Jane did not move. The easy smile dropped from his face when he finally acknowledged Jane's stony expression. "Jane? Get off of me, would you?"

Maybe it was his imagination, but Jane seemed to press the sword harder. Gunther's temper flared at her brash actions. He grabbed the wooden sword with two hands and snapped it. At the noise, several people turned to look.

"Oy! What do you think you're doing boy?" Ivon marched up to them.

Gunther pointedly looked at Jane who huffed. "It wasn't my fault, I didn't break it.." she said immediately.

Ivon turned back to Gunther with a scowl. "You can help in the stables again tomorrow." he said before Gunther could open his mouth. "Fools, thinking we have an unlimited supply of everything..." he mumbled walking away.

Jane also began to walk away and Gunther caught up to her. He pulled her into an empty room and glared at her. "What was that?" he all but snarled at her. He had pushed her against the corner of the room and was blocking any attempt at escaping by placing his hands on her arms.

Jane glared at him. "What are you talking about? Let go of me!"

Gunther frowned, remembering this was the reason he had stayed away from girls for this long: They always acted like they did nothing. "Jane calm down. I'm talking about your actions today at sparring."

"Are you mad because I beat you again? Gosh, Gunther I can't help it if you're no good."

Gunther raised an eyebrow at her petty words and Jane wished he would let go. Being so close to him was making her insides jump in a way she did not understand.

"I'm not mad, Jane. I'm confused." They stared at each other in silence, wondering who would give up first. Finally, Gunther let her go and Jane ignored the urge to pull him back. "Does this have anything to do with what happened last night?" he asked suddenly. Jane knew she didn't have to answer him. Here he was giving her room to run and here she was staring at him trying to find the right words.

Jane studied his face, wondering how he could be the same boy to give her a broken heart and the one making it beat faster than ever. Grudgingly, she took out the note she had found under his bed. "It's about this."

She watched as he read the note, frowned, and folded it up and placed it in his pocket. "That, Jane, is very important to me, is from my past, and was under my bed. Why do you have it?"

Jane didn't know whether to punch him for acting so calm or smile because he had called her important. She folded her arms to refrain from hitting him. "Where did you get that?" she asked.

Gunther scoffed. "I asked you a question first."

Jane glared at him but eventually her resolve broke. "Remember when I told you about that boy who had broken my heart? I gave him that note to meet me and he never did."

"Jane, I'm sorry if this brings up memories but it's mine. You shouldn't be going through my stuff-"

Jane's mouth fell open. "You empty head!" she yelled, this time pushing him back. "I gave you that note! The exact same note! You- YOU were - ARE the boy from my past!"

Gunther looked at her as if she was crazy. "No, Jane I am not." He spoke slowly, as if he was explaining something to a child. Jane wanted to kill him. "Someone else wrote me this note. I've never-"

"Your best friend had just passed." Jane said suddenly.

"What?" Gunther.

"You told me that you only wanted to be a knight in training because your best friend had been one."

"Jane stop-" he said quietly, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

"You said that you couldn't wait to be a proper knight in training, to prove to your friend, may he rest in peace, that you could live the rest of his dream for him."

"How you do you know that?" Gunther asked, white as sheet. "Did you read something else under my bed? There's no way you could possibly know that unless-"

"I was the girl you told, idiot! Why would I lie?" she screamed, her throat heavy with emotion. Gunther was looking at her like he'd never seen her. Like this was the first time truly seeing her. Jane's head was swirling. He had forgotten her. Here she was, her heart crying over the boy who had broken it, and he had moved on without a second thought. He had forgotten her.

"You- you had on a green dress." Gunther said quietly, like this was physically hard for him to say. He closed his eyes, willing the memories to come back. When Penelope had told him that she was the girl he had met all those years ago, he had never questioned her. He had already been in love with Penelope ever since he had met her; that detail just made him think that they were perfectly meant for each other. But she had lied. "A green dress that had went perfectly with your eyes," he said. "I complimented you on it, I remember." Gunther stepped closer to Jane and cupped her cheek. "Jane, I've never forgotten your eyes since that day. I always wondered why her eyes weren't like I remembered."

"What are you talking about? How could you not know it was me?" Jane asked.

Gunther sighed. "When I told Penelope about it, she said she had wrote me that note. I believed her."

Jane frowned and pulled away from him. Why couldn't it just simply be that he had really forgotten her. She wanted to be angry; she deserved to be angry. Gunther didn't deserve an excuse for making a mistake. "Why didn't you ever come down?" Jane asked after a long silence. "That night at the ball, why didn't you come and meet me?"

"I thought about it," he said slowly. He looked away and ran a hand through his hair. Really, Jane did deserve an explanation. But he knew it would ruin what little friendship they had. "My father saw me leave," he started remembering his father's exact expression when he had told him he had made friends with Jane. "He said not to go meet you because he didn't think your family was wealthy enough for me to associate with. And back then I still cared about what my father thought, so I believed him." Jane closed her eyes to calm the anger bubbling in her. She knew it wasn't Gunther's fault; but something wouldn't let her forget the disappointment and sorrow she had felt waiting there alone for him for hours in the courtyard. "Jane I never thought about it again because Penelope had told me she was you."

"Did you even ask her anything from that night? Just to make sure?" Jane asked vehemently. She knew it was stupid to even remotely blame Gunther for what had happened, but she needed an emotional outlet. It seemed like everything from this week was hitting her at once. She had tried not to think too deeply into her actions with Gunther the night before, but now it was staring her in the face. What was she going to do about it now that she knew that Gunther had broken her heart? But really, he hadn't even known what the outcome of his actions would be, so she couldn't blame him. But what could she do with all these feelings?

"Jane, I- I trusted her,_ I was in love with her._" he said and watched as Jane flinched at the words. "I wish I could erase, or fix in some way what has happened, but I can't. And you can't either." Jane continued to frown. "Jane look at me," he said moving closer to her.

Jane tried to ignore him, she really did. But when he pressed his body against hers and whispered in her ear, she gave in to his pull.

His lips touched hers slowly, like this was their first time kissing. Like Jane was a delicate flower, and if he moved too fast, she would blow away with the wind.

After a moment Jane pulled away from him. "Gunther," she said. "I can't do this. I can't pretend like I'm okay with everything that's happened between us, because I am not."

"Jane I-"

She held up a hand. "No, Gunther don't. I need time to think about this for myself. About what I think of this whole situation and how to come to terms with it."

"Jane, is it really that big of a deal? Why can't you forgive me?" he asked. "I didn't know Penelope was lying, nor did I realize what a terrible man my father was at the time."

"Yes, it is a big deal!" she exclaimed. "You don't know what it's like to be hurt, and then have no one to blame but yourself! Look, I don't want to be angry at you right now so can you please leave me alone?"

Gunther sighed. He had plenty of witty comments he could have said, but kept his mouth closed for once. Jane didn't know, but he knew what it was like to have no one to blame but himself. Ever since his father had been caught and sentenced to execution, he had blamed himself for never confronting his father before.

Jane watched as Gunther moved away to let her leave the room and began the lonely walk back to her room.

* * *

**Again, I apologize for the lateness of this chapter and what a sharp turn in the wrong direction this story is taking. I promise it will get better, ESPECIALLY IF YOU REVIEW.**

**Thank you to my lovely readers for giving me feedback and reminding me to come back to this story. This is actually one of my favorite ones to write. **


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